Though March has begun, snow  and cold still holds sway here. The weather man says we won’t see any real spring until the end of the month – but then it should stay (unlike last year when we got a snow/ice storm in mid-April). So, I’m continuing my practice of conjuring spring with my knitting. With Calendula off the needles, I’ve started on a birthday present for our little spring bird – Miss Wren. She turns two in late April.

I want to make her another dress like the one I made her for Christmas. I have some peach seersucker fabric in my stash that would be just perfect. But like her Christmas dress, it needs a cardigan. So I give you the start of Lynnrina..

The great yarn bag yielded up some Twinkle Cat (colourway is Solar Flare) that should ocmpliment the peach quite nicely. I’m making the largest size, which is marked 3T-5T… but  to be honest, I think it’s working up a little small. I’m going to finish it, block it, and then decide. If it’s too small, there will still be time to figure out something else – and this one can go in the gift basket for someone else.

The pink thread to finish Sam’s camp quilt finally came in so on Saturday I finished up the quilting, then spent Sunday under the watchful eye of my snoopervisor…

I finished sewing the binding. And with that I give you the completed Kitty in the Sky with Diamonds.

It’s a pretty little lap-size quilt made from a fat quater pack (14 FQs) and some black yardarge. It got the pattern here (Gimme Diamonds). I’m not overly experienced with quilting pattern, but I think this one could have been written a little more clearly. But I muddled through and I’m happy with the end result.

It’s a good pattern for showing off those fabrics you really love and don’t want to cut up too much. I especially love using black for the sashing because it makes it look like stained glass. Though in truth the black was chosen because Sam plans to take this camping and we wanted something that wouldn’t show too much dirt.

Once again, I got insanely lucky and found the perfect purple fabric on clearance for the back. Plain black was really the only option for binding, in my view. It really just ties it all together!

 

After a vigourous blocking, Calendula is now on my shoulders…

Of course, it’s difficult to take pictures of shawls on yourself. So I also threw it in the snow!

It’s a pretty crescent shaped shawl that comes with several options on sizing. I went with the biggest size, though as I was nearing the finished line, I was worried it was still going to be on the small side. But I should know better – with a good soak all that lace opened right up and the shawl grew. When laid around my shoulders, the points reach my waist – no quite a full-size shawl, maybe – but definitely bigger than a shawlette.

As mentioned before, the yarn is Top Cat in Jiminy Cricket. I used just under a skein and a half, which means I have enough left to make myself a pair of anklets – which is fantastic – I adore this green!

It is hard to see the beads, but they add a nice bit of weight to the drape, and glint beautifully in the sunlight.

All in all – the shawl took me a month to knit. I can knit a shawl much faster, but as you know, I wasn’t working on it monogamously. Now the needles are open for another knit… and I think we’re going to keep this spring theme going… maybe it will finally chase the snow away!

Do you like snakes?

If not, you might want to skip this post… there’s a snake in that bag and I’m about to show him to you…

Sadly, he’s not mine… he’s neighbour Krista’s newest addition.

He’s a Banana Pewter Ball Python, and I think he’s just the most beautiful thing. She got him at a reptile expo last weekend and immediately brought him over to show me.

He’s a little more than a year old, and when he’s all stretched out, he’s only about 2 feet long. She said he’ll probably only get to 3 feet long when he’s full grown. Even still, he’s got some fabulous muscles and it’s amazing to feel them constrict and relax as he coils himself around your arm.

He was a little on the cold side, so he was trying to seek out body heat – down Krista’s top was his favourite place to hang out, though you can see him heading for my hip in the above picture.

If you’ve never held a snake, they are not at all slimy. They are actually quite soft. And their markings are hypnotizing. It’s fascinating to watch them move.  And they can move surprisingly fast when they want to.

Unlike in the movies, they don’t make slithering sounds when they move. He is absolutely silent! We had set him between on on the couch and got chatting, and when I looked down a few minutes later, I jumped because he was right against my leg and heading for the inside of my couch! I wasn’t scared, I just wasn’t expecting him to be there. He didn’t make a peep!

I know some people will disagree, but I think they are absolutely beautiful, amazing creatures!

 

So remember a few days ago when I said I was almost out of sock yarn…?

Well last Saturday, when I went up to Mom’s for our sew along, I suggested we divvy up the remaining Wandering Cat yarn and she could have the space for more quilting stuff. So she started pulling it all out of the closet where she stored it for the 10 years we sold yarn… and it suddenly became a mini archeological dig…

I figured we had about  15-30 skeins left… boy was I wrong!

Yes – that’s exactly what it looks like – an extra-large garbage bag jammed packed with yarn. And that’s just the yarn I brought home – Mom kept some too (about half as much as what’s in my bag).

It’s mostly Alley Cat and Barn Cat, but there was a fair bit of Fat Cat (DK) which will be good for hats and mitts, and a few fancier ones like Twisted Slinky, Top Cat, and Twinkle Cat. There was also a whole bag of Twinkle Cat Bronze – a yarn we bought to try out, but never made it to market.

Needless to say – I won’t be buying yarn for a long time.

Before I put it all away, I really needed to get the stash closet in order…

When I showed you my new quilting bins – I mentioned I had some more organizing to do and this was part of it. So everything got pulled off the shelves and bagged (thank you ziploc!)

Then I set to work sorting and bagging all the new yarn. Of course, I had plenty of help for this process.

It took an hour or two, but my yarn closet is once again looking ship shape.

Top left: Miscellaneous yarns – lace, angora, hand dyed cotton, etc. Top right: Handspun and heavy sock yarn for Dad socks.

Next row: BOTH sides – sock yarn! (Everyone is getting socks for Christmas this year!)

Next row: Left side: DK and Worsted for hats and mitts and small projects. Right side: Shawl yarn

Bottom row, both sides:  Sweater/Cardigan yarn.

Looks like I better keep those needles clicking!

“Moooooommmmm! Burton is broken again…..”

I mentioned the other day that I had another project planned for the last project box…

A while back Mom and I saw the Time to Sew tutorial, and agreed it was a quilt we’d both like to make. Mom suggested we do a sew-a-long. It took us a bit to be able to sync up our schedule, but finally this weekend we were able to get together and get started.

We both picked out layer cakes we liked and got to work. As you know, Mom has several machines, so it’s easy for us to work at the same time.

And of course, we had a fabulous, floofalicious snooperviser.

After a few hours sewing, we each had completed two blocks.

My block is on the left, Mom’s is on the right. From here on out, we’re going to finish the rest of the blocks (14 more each) in our own homes, but at the end we’ll have matching quilts!

With the Sunday Swing socks off the needles, I needed to get another pair on. I don’t like to not have a pair of socks on the go, because (as many of you know), they are perfect for traveling.

Whenever we go out, I take my purse AND my knitting bag. I can’t count how many times I’ve been stuck somewhere (because of car trouble, someone running late, etc) away from home… and been saved by bringing along my knitting.

So I’ve started the Business Casual sock. I’ve actually knit them before, as part of a KAL. I made them for Dave, but I’ve always wanted a pair for myself.  Dave’s were knit in 2013… can you believe it’s taken me this long to start my pair?

The yarn I’m using is Malabrigo sock yarn. The colour is Alcaucil (which means Artichoke in Spanish – though I think in this case, it must be a rotten, moldy artichoke) and it’s a nice super dark olivey green. It’s been hanging in my stash since April 2011 when I bought it at the Frolic. It’s definitely time to use it.

Actually, you might be surprised, but I didn’t actually have much sock yarn to choose from.  The last few years I’ve been really good at using from my stash and not buying new. My sock supply is almost dwindled away.  I still have plenty for shawls and cardigans, so no fear of running out all together! And of course, there’s the leftover Wandering Cat stash which is still up at Mom’s… we really should divvy that up soon…

With all the sewing I’ve been doing lately, I’ve managed to complete quite a few Leader & Ender Rainbow nine patches already.

Aren’t they just the most charming little blocks. They will have a thin white sashing to tie them all together – but that’s a long way off. As I mentioned before – I’m going to need a lot of them to make a substantial size quilt.

Here’s where everything else is at:

• Marseilles Stars: Stars are all pieced – I need to cut some plain white fabric and piece the  top together. Then hunt up a border
• Cat Fancy: Big blocks done! This top shouldn’t be around too much longer
• Mystic Maze: Still snowballing, still loving it!
• Leader & Ender Rainbow Nine Patches: Going just swimmingly – but a long way from done!

Now… if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that’s only four projects.. which means I have one box free. Stay tuned – Mom and I are going to have a little quilt-a-long!

Well it’s not stalled exactly, but it is moving slowly.  I had actually expected to have an FO post for you by now, but I always underestimate shawls when there’s beading involved. Beading really slows things down (though it’s worth it) and this shawl has a lot of beads

Iv’e only got about 30 rows left, so I’m hoping I can finish it before the weekend. But I’m not making any promises.

Sorry for the fuzzy shot – I was too lazy to go back outside and retake when I realized it was blurry – but as least you can see the beads. Normally, I go for a bead with more contrast, but I had nothing in my stash that would work. These are almost the exact shade of green as the yarn, but with a foil gold centre, so they at least add some sparkle. Naturally, it will all look much better once it’s off the needles and has had a good blocking.